Aug. 24 - James Buchanan is president of a Federalist organization, the Washington Association, by this time.

Aug. 24 - James Buchanan is nominated by Peter
Diller of the Lancaster Federalist Party for the office of state representative.

Aug. 24 - The British capture Washington, D.C., setting fire to several buildings, including the Capitol and the White House, during the War of 1812.

Aug. 25 - James Buchanan makes his first public
speech at a meeting in Lancaster, PA, in which he urges the residents to
join the fight against the British. Following this meeting, he joins a company
of private volunteers, known as the Lancaster County Dragoons, under Judge
Henry Shippen. His company marches to Baltimore, Maryland, where they serve
under Major Charles Sterret Ridgely of the Third Cavalry Regiment until
honorably discharged.

Feb. 1 - State Representative Buchanan makes
his first formal speech as a public official, arguing against a Conscription
Bill and in favor of a Voluntary Enlistment Bill. His argument is so much
in opposition to Federalist doctrine that William Beale, Democratic senator
from Mifflin County, advises Buchanan to join the Democrats, which he declines
to do at that time.

Feb. 6 -
American inventor John Stevens is granted the first railroad charter.

Mar. 3 -
Congress declares war against Algeria, a result of interference with American shipping by the Algerians.

June 30 -
A treaty ends the US war with Algeria and the Barbary Coast pirates.

July 4 - State Representative Buchanan delivers an oration before Lancaster's Washington Association, criticizing the Democratic Party, James Madison's administration, and the federal government's handling of the War of 1812.

Oct. - State Representative Buchanan is reelected
to the PA House as a Federalist.

Dec. - State Representative Buchanan begins
his second term in the PA House as a member of the Judiciary Committee and
the Committee on Banks.

1816

James Buchanan returns to his law practice in
Lancaster, PA, sharing his office on East King Street with Molton Rogers.

James Buchanan loses three tracts of Warren
County, PA land to Molton Rogers in a wager on the 1816 election.

Dec. 12 - Ann Caroline Coleman (former fiancée
of James Buchanan) is buried at the St. James Episcopal Church in Lancaster,
PA.

Dec. 14 -
Alabama joins the Union as the 22nd state.

1820

James Buchanan represents Bowman in Bowman v. Königmacher.

Mar. 3 - Congress passes the Missouri Compromise, with Maine to be admitted to the Union as a free state and Missouri as a slave state, along with restrictions on the spread of slavery into new territories.